Prior to this invention, a specific technique for determining targeted electromagnetic radiation frequencies for affecting the atoms or molecules was unknown.
The molecules that make up compositions of matter may be held together via chemical bonds, such as ionic bonds, covalent bonds, and hydrogen bonds. Cleavage of these bonds is of interest to scientists and manufacturers, but effective methods of such cleavage have encountered numerous obstacles.
Liu et al., Science 312, 1024 (2006) report resonant photodesorption of hydrogen from a Si(111) surface using tunable infrared radiation. According to Liu et al., selective bond cleavage by vibration excitation is typically thwarted by energy thermalization. Tully, J. C., Science 312, 1004 (2006) reports that the main impediment to IR mode-selective chemistry is that vibrational energy tends to be redistributed rapidly within a molecule.